ATHENS, Ga. — The University of Georgia lost the heart of the Bulldog Nation when former football coach and athletic director Vince Dooley died in October.
On Monday, the athletic department announced a public memorial service for Dooley for fans to pay their respects.
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UGA will hold a celebration of life service for Dooley on Friday, Nov. 25 at 7:30 p.m. inside Stegeman Coliseum.
“Coach Dooley meant so much to this University and the Athens Community,” J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Josh Brooks said. “This will be a tremendous opportunity to honor a man who meant the world to so many of us. Georgia Athletics wanted to give Bulldog fans a chance to pay tribute to Coach Dooley, and this is a great way to do that.”
The service is open and free to the public. The arena’s clear bag policy will be in effect. More details on how fans can attend will be released.
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Dooley died on Oct. 28 at age of 90. His death ends what many considered to be the golden age of UGA sports.
Georgia hired the virtual unknown to be its head coach back in 1963.
Dooley resisted coaching at first, thinking it “an insecure business.” He had an offer to go into banking when he left the Marine Corps, and only after some hesitation did he take a job on Shug Jordan’s staff at Auburn. Even then he was readying himself.
He spent five years tutoring quarterbacks and then asked to take charge of the freshman team, just to see if he could actually coach.
Over the next 25 years, he won six SEC titles and one national championship in 1981. It was Georgia’s first national championship since 1942.
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Years later, Dooley became athletic director and, under his guidance, UGA’s sports programs rose to national prominence. The school won 20 national championships and 77 SEC titles.
Dooley retired in June 2004 at the age of 71 after a very controversial power struggle with the university’s president. He remained the face of Georgia football and a staple in the Athens community.
In 2019, Georgia renamed the football field Vincent J. Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium.
The signatures of Dooley and Charley Trippi, another Bulldog legend who died this year, will be on the field’s sidelines for the rest of the season. The players will also wear a Dooley patch and Trippi helmet sticker.